About $50 million worth of artifacts and antiques were shipped from both Egypt and Turkey to the United States in 2016 — the highest annual value from each of those countries in at least 20 years, according to U.S. Census Bureau documents.

The artifacts, totaling about $100 million between the two countries, were imported "for consumption" and not for temporary display in a museum, the documents say. Most of the artifacts were shipped to New York City, where numerous antiquities dealers, auction houses and art galleries are based. It can be difficult to determine whether a shipment of artifacts was recently looted, law-enforcement officials told Live Science. ...

... Egypt has experienced extensive looting since the country's 2011 revolution. The looting is linked to the deaths of children (they were killed while working in narrow looting shafts) and antiquities guards (who were shot dead while trying to protect sites). An agreement between the United States and Egypt designed to curtail the antiquities trade was signed in November 2016 and went into effect near the end of that year. ...

... The documents reveal that the import of "antique" gold coins (defined as being over 100 years old) made up a significant part of the shipments from Turkey and Egypt in 2016.

More than 46 lbs. (20 kilograms) of antique gold coins were shipped from Turkey to the U.S. in 2016, the documents show — nearly the weight of about 9,000 modern-day U.S. pennies. The documents also reveal that more than 22 lbs. (10 kg) of antique gold coins were shipped from Egypt to the United States in 2016.

For comparison, the documents also reveal that between 1996 and 2003, in that entire span, less than 1 lb. (0.45 kg) of antique gold coins was shipped from each of those two countries to the U.S. ...

... "Middlemen are experts in making looted and smuggled antiquities look like they are part of the legitimate market by cleaning and restoring them and creating forged paperwork that makes it seem like Egypt gave permission for its export," Thompson told Live Science last year in an email. ...